What lies beneath? Pictish Monsters and the Living Frame

“What lies beneath? Pictish Monsters and the Living Frame”
Annual Academic Lecture given by Dr Heather Pulliam, Professor of Medieval Art, Edinburgh School of Art

Medieval art is known for its monsters, but Pictish art seems to take it to the next level. This talk addresses the many questions raised by the monsters that crawl, slither, and climb across the sculptural surfaces of Pictish art. While the focus is primarily on sculpture, building on Victoria Whitworth and Isabel Henderson’s arguments that we might understand the Book of Kells as made in Pictland, the talk also considers the Book of Kells and the Book of Deer. It begins by asking what a monster is, and what it means to be monstrous. It then turns to ask: What do Pictish monsters do for Pictish art? Why do they feature on so many monuments, in so many positions on these monuments, including places normally reserved in medieval art for the most sacred and divine figures? Finally, it briefly considers how the settings of these monuments (as much as we can reconstruct them) might help us better understand the role of monsters in Pictish art.